1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup device control signal generating apparatus and method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A drive circuit for CCD charge transfer which is used to decode channel selection information and determine the output state of a selected channel is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-64753.
A drive circuit for CCD charge transfer in which timing signals are time-division multiplexed is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-8995.
A solid-state image pickup apparatus in which, based on a combination of data signal values, a vertical drive signal is selected and its value is changed is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-110140.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications Nos. 2002-64753, 2003-8995, and 2005-110140, however, do not disclose any configuration in which: one or more pieces of control data which select one or more control signals and specify their output states are sequentially received at predetermined timings; and the one or more pieces of the received control data are outputted at one time at a timing predetermined for them, making it possible to generate one or more control signals in specified output states at one time.